Not sure if I'd mentioned it previously, but there was a reason why the mounts were designed like they were (highly questionable as it may appear), and that's for safety, for engine breakaway in collisions. I don't have the capacity (resources, including mental) to figure out what changes a changed mount like this presents to the breakaway function, but for sure it's altered. Mind you, I prefer the strategy of not testing, of not hitting anything in order to find out how either this "design" OR VW's operates!

Not sure if I'd mentioned it previously, but there was a reason why the mounts were designed like they were (highly questionable as it may appear), and that's for safety, for engine breakaway in collisions. I don't have the capacity (resources, including mental) to figure out what changes a changed mount like this presents to the breakaway function, but for sure it's altered. Mind you, I prefer the strategy of not testing, of not hitting anything in order to find out how either this "design" OR VW's operates!

There are basically three ways to fix a stripped motor mount:
- (1) Replace it with a new one [expensive]
- (2) drill, tap and pray [lots of labor]
- (3) make it work 100% by using nuts [never worry about mount again]

How do you get a tool in there to hold the bottom nuts while torquing the bolts? Can maybe be done on a bench, but not in the car.

I have to disagree with your claim that the drill & tap repair is "lots of labor" It's a 10 minute job. There certainly is a lot more labor time to cut those slots in the mount to accept the nuts.

I agree that the cost of the time sert tool is expensive and if you are just doing 1 mount, the cost to buy a new mount makes sense. But there are options after buying and using the tool. Repair more mounts at $5 worth of inserts each. Or sell the tool to recoup some $$$.

How do you get a tool in there to hold the bottom nuts while torquing the bolts? Can maybe be done on a bench, but not in the car.

I have to disagree with your claim that the drill & tap repair is "lots of labor" It's a 10 minute job. There certainly is a lot more labor time to cut those slots in the mount to accept the nuts.

I agree that the cost of the time sert tool is expensive and if you are just doing 1 mount, the cost to buy a new mount makes sense. But there are options after buying and using the tool. Repair more mounts at $5 worth of inserts each. Or sell the tool to recoup some $$$.

Wingnut; There seems to be a miscommunication for which I do apologize. The YouTube video would answer all your questions and it is only 8-mins long (I made it to better show the assembly).

The slot for the nut, in the motor mount, is cut as a snug box and the nut that is used is one of the types with a large ring or hat brim on it. The ring is ground down to form a key or elongated area. This key is what stops the nut from turning in the slot. The slot, with the nut in it, was then sealed with black RTV to stop oxidation. When you finally go to install the mount on the auto you do not need to insert any tools in the nut hold to keep it from rotating and you can torque down to the OEM requires specs without being concerned that it will ever strip. You are correct about the cost vs labor aspect of doing this repair, but over all other repairs or even replacement, this one is MOST SECURE.

How do you get a tool in there to hold the bottom nuts while torquing the bolts? Can maybe be done on a bench, but not in the car.

I have to disagree with your claim that the drill & tap repair is "lots of labor" It's a 10 minute job. There certainly is a lot more labor time to cut those slots in the mount to accept the nuts.

I agree that the cost of the time sert tool is expensive and if you are just doing 1 mount, the cost to buy a new mount makes sense. But there are options after buying and using the tool. Repair more mounts at $5 worth of inserts each. Or sell the tool to recoup some $$$.

I agree with all your points.

I also changed my method when torquing those two 18mm bolts. I use several stages to get to final instead of the two in the past. I had one bolt let go when after I had torqued the other bolt which left me in a tough jam if i were to undo the bolt to make more room to install the timesert. There was enough room, but it was involved to say the least.

Sorry, but I just saw this question. There seems to be a bit of confusion, as bolt head is not the way to identify a bolt. It's shaft size, thread pitch and length. I will identify shaft size.

The only bolt I torque to 35 ft lbs are the vertical 10mm(?) 2 bolts (16mm bolt head) that hold the body mount to the body itself. The three 10mm bolts (also 16mm bolt heads..) for the engine mount, I torque to a straight 45 ft lbs. The Vertical 12mm bolts (18mm head) I torque to 65 ft lbs.

I realize there is some who will cry 'FOUL!' for going against the grain on 'spec', but we particularly do not like stripping engine mount bolts. We also do not like over-tightening what is in all intents and purposes, NOT a torque to yield bolt.

As for how we use Recoils, we use a double depth recoil, that goes from the very top, to the very bottom of the bolt hole for the vertical engine mount repair. They do not make a single recoil that fits, so we bought 'specials' that are 15mm length. The bolt hole is drilled as far as we can without breaking through to the bottom of the hole. I wish I had a 'bottoming tap' for the weird size recoil thread, so we could use the recoil at full depth, but we have to stop where the recoil binds with the first recoil, then stack the next on top of it.

As a matter of threading principle, aluminum threads should be a minimum of 2x the length compared to the diameter of the threads; i.e., 12mm x 2 = 24mm and we use a 30mm depth. Not really overkill... If you stick to my torques, they will not pull out.

I like the idea of sealing the threads. We use a aluminum wiring paste that has anti-corrosion grease in a nickel base. It stays put and keeps out corrosion. We use the same stuff for glow plugs, wheel nuts, acorn grounding nuts, etc.

What is interesting is later model engine mounts come with Timeserts, which are quite deep. Still, if you over-stress them and they will pull out.

Engineering of these 'systems' is quite remarkable. I can honestly say, I'm alive today because a Jetta sacrificed it's life to save mine. The point being, don't mess with a connection whose design is to fail in a catastrophic incident and in a way that may save your butt.

Engineering of these 'systems' is quite remarkable. I can honestly say, I'm alive today because a Jetta sacrificed it's life to save mine. The point being, don't mess with a connection whose design is to fail in a catastrophic incident and in a way that may save your butt.

This. A thousand times this.

Although it's true that engineers are constantly weighing cost in their designs... and thus sometimes they do things to save a penny across the millions of cars that roll off the assembly lines... they almost always think safety first (and then argue with the accountants later if need be. )

So, one man's "wow this is a crappy flimsy design" could be another man's "thank gawd it sacrificed itself to save my life". And we weekend warriors are not always in full possession of the design goals...so worth thinking about as we do our various "improvements".

That said, not sure what was up with their door module designer and their armrest latch designer and their fender foam designer and their rear brake caliper designer and their...

__________________Vince Waldon Edmonton AB Canada
Note: The above is to the best of my knowledge- but at the end of the day simply interweb opinion, worth EXACTLY what you paid for it, and if used done so at your own risk.

When I had the motorcycle shop we used Keen-serts, as used in aerospace applications, for most thread repairs, with never a failure. Still use them on the odd occasion when repairs are needed, though the similarly designed Acme inserts seem beefier still and may be worth further investigation...

As Helicoil inserts can be quite short I have occasionally successfully used two in the same hole, one on top of the other. The solid insert repair looks really good though.

To maintain the integrity a part that requires removal of bolts over numerous repairs VW should have designed them with inserts out of the factory. Of course if they had a chain rather than a belt not so many repairs would be needed.

Not sure if I'd mentioned it previously, but there was a reason why the mounts were designed like they were (highly questionable as it may appear), and that's for safety, for engine breakaway in collisions. I don't have the capacity (resources, including mental) to figure out what changes a changed mount like this presents to the breakaway function, but for sure it's altered. Mind you, I prefer the strategy of not testing, of not hitting anything in order to find out how either this "design" OR VW's operates!

You are correct, the mounts actually break, not the bracket. I have an 03 Wagon with a 1.8T engine, hit hard in the front, it broke off both side motor mounts, the brackets are intact.

Strangerfaces, there are several things about that thread repair and the reason we don't use them. 1) They are more expensive 2) They don't come in 30mm length as far as I can see. This is important, as the thread contact to the aluminum will pull out if it's not long enough, And 3) we have repaired many, and as I have already pointed out, vincej, we specifically use a 15mm recoils and put in two. They do stack nicely.

In the collision I had, the mount broke at the transmission side at the body. Smaller bolts gave out first. The body to engine connection was wrecked also where the bent and pulled out. What really did me service was the door curtain and the seat air bag. It was a sideways strike. The steering wheel bag never went off, which was a surprise.